Wednesday, 29 February 2012

As it is known, Turkmen tribes established the Ottoman
Empire. As it arose as a third power between Eastern and Western cultures, the
necessity of founding a progressive order also arose. While the Ottoman
administrators demonstrated the need to increase tax incomes and agricultural
production, the Turkmen tribes of Anatolia and Syria protested against
settlement plans as they were adjusted to a nomadic lifestyle.

The region of Transoxiana (Maveraünnehir), the Turkmenplace of origin before migrating to Anatolia

This conflict between rulers and tribes was typical of the Ottoman
Empire until the year 1856. Evidently, this conflict fuelled many of the themes
found in the folkloric works of great Turkmen literates such as Karacaoğlan, Dadaloğlu, Pir Sultan Abdal and Dede Korkut and this remained seemingly unchanged ever since their days in Transoxiana (Maveraünnehir). As a result of their refusal to conform, Turkmens lived closed-off
from mainstream society in the mountains for many centuries. This allowed them
to preserve their nomadic lifestyle and traditions, particularly in folkloric
beliefs, poetry and music.

It could be said that this conflict represented a
struggle between two worlds; the first being the nomadic way of being free to
live as one pleases, the second being the inevitable conditions required in
building a civilisation. On one hand, therefore, the Ottoman Empire can be
accused of infringing upon human rights, but on the other hand it would have
been impossible for any kind of orderly civilisation to arise out of nomadic
confederates, nor could they have been expected survive forever. However, this
struggle did linger on for centuries (and there are still some nomadic Turkmen
tribes in the Toros mountains today), but in 1856 the Ottomans formed an army
specifically tasked to settle Turkmen nomadic tribes by force. This settlement
policy, called Şenlendirme, distributed newly acquired lands to specifically to
Turkmen tribes.

The 'Ferman' document issued by Sultan Selim IIordering the settlement of Turkmens to Cyprus

After the conquest of Cyprus in 1571, in accordance
with this settlement policy, Turkmens were sent to the island in two waves. The
first wave began in 1572 and continued until the end of the sixteenth century,
the second began in 1699 and continued until 1745. A document dated on the 20th
of September 1572 issued an order by Sultan Selim II to the governors of
Anatolia, Karamania, Dulkadiria and Rum provinces to select citizens possessing
a lack of fertile land, unregistered people and those known as ‘rebels’ (all
three criteria befitting to nomadic Turkmens) to be sent to Cyprus.
Additionally, ten percent of the industrial workforce was to accompany them.

Above all these provinces were originally Turkmen
principalities, known as beyliks, which had only recently agreed to
collaborate with the Ottoman Empire. Firstly, the Dulkadiria province was
occupied by the Yüreğir and Kınık tribes, as well as some independent clans known
as the Dulkadiria Ulusu. Furthermore, Karamania consisted of the Bozdoğan tribe. All of these were
descendents of the Üçoklar branch of the Oğuz Turks. Descending from the
Bozoklar branch, the inhabitants of the Rum province were from the Beğdili and
Bayat tribes. As for the Anatolian province, it was commonly known by the words
of the twelfth century traveler Ibn Batuta as Turkmen Yatağı, the ‘bed
of Turkmens’.

As well
as this first order, a further two orders written in 1576
and 1577 were found addressed to the governor of Bozok (modern day Yozgat)
demanding the extradition of Turkmens suspected of supporting Iranian leader of
the Kızılbaş
Alevi sect Shah Ismail Saphevi. Another order from the same year was sent to the Bozdoğan tribe exiling the Ramazan family and
their supporters to Cyprus as a punishment for rebellion. Notably, the Ramazan family were a branch of the Köseli clan and
today there is still a family by the name of Köseli living in the settlement
area. In another document, an order is sent to the governor
of Hamiteli to exile the rebel Karahacı to Cyprus. Even today, in the area in
which he was settled, when knocking on someone’s door at night, if one is asked
“Who’s there?”, it is tradition to say “Karahacı” to scare the hosts.

A family tree of Turkmen clans descending from Oğuz Khan (click to enlarge)

By the
end of the sixteenth century, 8,000 families had been settled in Cyprus, short
of the planned 12,000. It is clear that most of these families were Turkmens as
a document found in the Ottoman Archives states that only “Turks and Muslims”
could be settled in Cyprus (Turk of course referring to Turkmen nomads). Dr. Cengiz
Orhunlu, author of the book Ottoman Settlement Policy, wrote that the
Turkmens of Karamania were indeed settled to Cyprus by force. According to
another author, Dr. Faruk Sümer, the ancestors of the Turkish Cypriots were the
Turkmens of Çukurova. This was the first wave.

After
the second Ottoman retreat from Vienna, it became clear to the Ottoman
administrators that the empire was suffering due to a lack of tax income. In
order to increase tax revenue and agricultural production, an order was issued
in 1699 to settle all nomadic Turkmen tribes to Cyprus. Thus began the second
wave of migration. Consequently, the Turkmen tribes rebelled against this
decision and their protests continued up until 1856, but by 1745 many had
already been forcibly settled in Cyprus. In this period, around 2,500 new
families had been settled from the Beğdili, Bayat, Avşar, Kaçar and Bozdoğan
tribes. As it is known the first three are from the Bozoklar branch and the
fourth is from the Üçoklar branch of Oğuz Turks.

The second
wave was completed as follows: From the Beğdili tribe the Şamlu/Dımışklı clan
(otherwise known in Iran as the Şahseven, Hüdabendelü, Aynallu or Karagözlü).
From the Avşar tribe the Bentoğlu and Köroğlu clans. From the Kaçar tribe the
Kaçar Halil clan, from the Bozdoğan tribe the Karahacılı clan. From the Yüreğir
branch of the Bayat tribe the Gediklü clan. From the Kayı tribe the Karakeçili
clan.

Avşar tribe Bayat tribe Beğdili tribe

Kayı tribe Kınık tribe Yüreğir tribe

In these
two waves, around 50,000 Turkmens were settled on the island, mainly in the
provinces of Mesaria and Mesoto, which were left unoccupied after the Latin
exodus from Cyprus and due to their similarities with the landscapes of Cental
Asia. Until the twentieth century, they occupied themselves with shepherding
sheep and camel flocks, without taking much interest in agriculture. Just as
their ancestors had done in Anatolia and Syria, the Turkmens of Cyprus rebelled
against the Ottoman Empire on many occassions. This continued until recently
when the trend of nationalism took over causing them to consider themselves as
modern Turks. However, even today some Turkish Cypriots insist on maintaining a
special identity seperate to that of the Turks of modern Turkey.

Perhaps
it is fair to argue that neither of these viewpoints are particularly
incorrect. Living on a small island in villages within close proximity of each
other, as well as being isolated from the developments in the Ottoman Empire's
mainland provided Turkish Cypriots the chance to preserve their old way of life
in Anatolia and Syria. Until the onset of the age of nationalism, they
maintained their nomadic lifestyle. In other words, whereas other communities
gradually changed over time, due to their lack of integration with mainstream
Ottoman society, the Turkish Cypriots experienced no change in their culture
since their days in Chorasan and Maveraünnehir until they made a sudden jump to nationalism.

Turkish Cypriots have maintained their folkloric Turkmen traditions

Today, when discussing Turkish Cypriot identity, one of
the first issues raised is the spoken dialect. The Turkish Cypriot dialect is
very close to the dialect used in Dede Korkut stories from the twelfth century. Furthermore, Turkish Cypriots use many
words from the old Turkmen language, much of which has been forgotten in the
modern standard Istanbul Turkish. Sentence structure also strikes more
similarity with the old Turkmen dialect than Istanbul Turkish. Therefore a
Turkish Cypriot can easily understand the dialect of somebody from Azerbeijan, Kerkük,
Merv, Aşkabat or any other Turkmen province. Many of the old folkloric beliefs
are also alive in Turkish Cypriot culture today, such as the cult of ancestors,
the cult of sacred trees, the cult of smoke, the cult of fire and water, so on
and so forth. Any researcher can easily find links between these and old
Shamanistic traditions. For example, the avoidance of cutting hair or nails at
night, or even the belief in Albasması is still very popular amongst
Turkish Cypriots. The tradition of celebrating Nevruz is still in practice in
some villages today and is instead called “Mart Dokuzu”. In summary, the folkloric culture of Turkish Cypriots is
almost identical to the folkloric culture of Turkmenistan. Another example can
be found in wedding ceremony traditions, as well as the musical instrument,
which up until very recently in Cyprus was referred to as the Dilli Düdük, whereas in Anatolia it is
called the Kaval or the Ney.

by Dr. Nazim Beratli

Translated from Turkish by Ertan KarpazliMaps provided by www.anadoluasiretleri.com